Electric car charging at the condo outlet: who pays?

I'd just like to thank everyone who posted here. I feel like I'm in a much better position to make an informed decision if and when this issue arises at my own condo association.

I have a bit of a different outlook on this problem. Why is a person interested in an electric powered car to begin with? To become more "green" well I have to say if that is someone's argument for going electric they should know that the electricity that they are using, is coming from the coal plant down the street. The coal plant pollutes MORE than a car does. So going electric has not helped the environment one bit. So regardless of where the electricity comes from it still is causing pollution, it is just changing where that pollution originates.

Well, almost everyone.

I'd appreciate data, if you have it. Please show that an electric vehicle pollutes more per mile driven than a comparable gasoline engine car.

apples and kumquats. An oil refinery pollutes more than a coal fired power plant becasuse oil refineries dont spend much thought on cleaning air .

So if all is even "at the source" an all electric car is zero emissions and a plug in hybrid is sizeably (at least 1/3) less emissions than a gas car per miles driven.

Our electric bill in Ohio broke down the sources of electrical generation the company was using. Coal-fired power plants were less than 10%, and fuel oil-fired plants were only slightly more than 20%. There was a small amount of hydroelectric generation (about 20%?) and the rest was nuclear power--almost 50%.

Not only the air, but water. Oil manufactures use way more water to make a barrel of oil than the barrel itself.

What are the legal implications of the charging?

My understanding is that in Canada the owner of a plug-in electric is required to have one of the approved charging stations. The 120v charging cord that comes with the car is supposed to be for temporary use (i.e. while at work or visiting someone who doesn't own a plug-in electric car.) only. The Canadian National Electrical Code has an entire section on this (Section 86).

The Chevy Volt WWW site says almost nothing about charging at home. They just refer you to their charging system provider/installer (who happens to only sell 240v charging systems). The Nissan Leaf WWW isn't much better but it does say that regardless of which of their charging solution you choose, a licensed electrician WILL come out and install a 240v outlet.

All of the approved 240v chargers comply with several safety standards that the 120v cord doesn't meet (UL 2202 and UL 2231). They are also "Smart" controllers that work in conjunction with the grid to allow for off-peak charging (SAE Std. J1772) which the 120v cord also doesn't do.

What happens with the Condo Association's insurance if someone's electric car overloads the system or starts a fire and the insurance company finds out that they've been allowing daily charging from a system that isn't approved by the electrical code? Now that Nemat has made all of this public, the Condo Assoc. can't claim they were unaware of what was going on and if they continue to allow him to charge his car as he has been they essentially approve of it. How much liability would the Assoc. be assuming if they go with Nemat's solution?

I think there are two possible practical solutions: The first would be that Mr. Nemat pays to have the proper charging system installed (I'd give him the electricity after it was installed). The second would be for the Condo Assoc. to have a charging system installed and then bill for it's use to recoup the equipment/installation/maintenance costs. The life of a charger should be well in excess of 10 or 12 years so the monthly cost should end up being cheaper what he'd pay for the electricity itself. At $3000/system, over 12 years he'd be looking at paying $20/month if he is the only user.

If reference to the comparisons to block heaters - charging an electric car probably doesn't use much more that a block heater but, a block heater is used how many days out of any given year? 15? Maybe 20? 30 in a really cold year? This guy is going to be charging his car pretty much every single day. Pick a random day and the cost might be the same. But on an annual basis the cost is very different.

As an aside, I watched the video in the linked story in the opening post. Why is Nemat parking and charging in a designated Visitor parking spot? What's wrong with his designated parking spot? I don't think Mr. Nemat is telling the whole story.

Sorry, but perhaps I missed it..but who is Nemat?

One of the worst types of pollutions comes from the coal plant and that is mercury. I wasn't implying that gasoline engines are better than electric. I am saying for people who think electric cars save the environment, they are misled.

I think it would be better to have a huge majority if not all power, be generated through nuclear power but too many people cry about it's hazards. They would much rather have coal plants and mercury poisoning. There is always going to be a cost involved in "electrical" needs. There will always be some kind of impact on the environment as long as huge corporations control the advancement of technology and hold it hostage.